Internal HDD suddenly not recognized

Question

Internal HDD suddenly not recognized

Anonymous

It's a 2T internal HDD , I have a 500G SSD that still works but I have no idea what else to do. It has been fine for the past two years.

HDD does not show up in BIOS

I have tried connecting other saga cables and checked to make sure everything is plugged in snugly.

Disk management , shows up as Disk 0, unknown, not initialized and has no data on the size. I am unable to initialize it here

Device Management, it shows up as unknown device, but no information as to the size etc. It does say healthy and the only thing I can find is in properties > events >device not migrated.

Drivers are updated

I tried to assign a letter to the HDD

Did I miss anything? I'm stumped and could really use some advice if you have the time.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

4 additional answers

Answer 1

Hi Alshea. I'm Greg, an installation specialist, 10 year Windows MVP, and Volunteer Moderator here to help you.

It sounds like the drive has failed, but let's make sure.

In Device Manager select this Disk Drive (by serial or model), right click to Uninstall, restart PC to reinstall Driver.

Now in Disk Management see if it shows up and will let you assign a letter.

If not Test the hard drive or SSD with diagnostics:

https://www.lifewire.com/free-hard-drive-testin...

https://mashtips.com/ssd-health-test-and-perfor...

HP and Dell have hardware diagnostics triggered by tapping the ESC or F12 keys respectively as you power on.

Best is to use the HDD/SSD manufacturer's own if there is one, otherwise use Seatools bootable long test: http://blog.nowherelan.com/2013/04/04/boot-seat...

Follow this up with a full Disk Check from the Command Prompt in Repair Mode or from bootable media: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/check-hard-dri... if necessary from the Command Prompt at boot: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2294-advanc...

If the drive passes both tests but remains inaccessible, see if you can wipe it with Diskpart Clean Command and reformat:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/85819-erase...

https://www.pcworld.com/article/248980/how-to-p...

If the drive has failed I'd replace it. I don't' believe it's your Windows drive so I won't give you the steps to reinstall Windows, but here's how to format it in Disk Mgmt:

http://www.wikihow.com/Format-an-External-Hard-...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and keep me posted. If you will wait to choose if I resolved your problem, I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

________________________________________________________

Standard Disclaimer: There are links to non-Microsoft websites. The pages appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the sites that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the sites before you decide to download and install it.

Answer 2

Hi Alshea -

If it's not your Windows drive then you can wait to replace it. If it is then I can help you reinstall Windows on the other drive if need be.

At least we were able to confirm that the drive is dead so you know for sure.

Let me know if there's anything else.

Also when ready please mark the post which helped most as the Answer, to help others. A rating is also appreciated.

Answer 3

There were no changes after disabling and trying to reinstall.

The CMD prompt returned a bunch of 0's and no's.

I would love to replace it with a SSD, but was laid off because of this virus, and it's out of my budget. Thank you again for all of your help and replies, it's good to know we at least tried everything and I appreciate you going out of your way to troubleshoot.

Answer 4

Is this your Windows drive? I thought since you have another 500gb SSD that Windows should be installed on. If it's only a data drive and still won't uninstall in Device Management, try disabling it first in Dev Mgr.

If it cannot be reinstalled in Dev Mgr, to see if that brings it back to life, and doesn't show up in Disk Mgmt except to initialize, can you initialize it?

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server....

You can also type CMD in Search box, open Command Prompt as Admin, type each of these followed by Enter key:

DISKPART

LIST DISK

SEL DISK # (replace # with this disk number shown in List disk)

DETAIL DISK

What does it report?

If it actually finds the partitions intact and healthy, then see if you can rescue the data to your SSD or a USB external following one of these methods:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

But this is all very doubtful and mainly a last resort to know you have tried everything, since the diagnostics don't detect it. You can confirm that with another diagnostics like a bootable which is always best.

Answer 5

Thank you so much for your prompt reply and sounds advice.

I tried to uninstall, I even left it running over night but it seemed to be stuck processing that task for hours and never completed. I tried it again this morning with no luck.

I tired to test it with diagnostics but it did not show up, only my ssd.

I am still unable to assign a letter in disk management.

Should I pursue further steps or do you think it has run its course? And any insight as to why/how this happened? And lastly, if I do need to replace it, you are sure I do not need to set up windows on it? It was a few years when I set everything up so I cannot remember if I did it on the ssd or hdd.

Thank you again for your help, it is very much appreciated.

Share via

Internal HDD suddenly not recognized

4 additional answers